Abstract
This paper examines the book “A Beautiful Mind” by Sylvia Nasar, it details the reader’s personal opinion of the character of John Nash, delves into the purpose of the book itself and helps to explain the reasoning behind its inception.
Introduction
This paper delves into the personal opinion of the reader regarding the book “A Beautiful Mind” by Silvia Nascar. Based on an examination of the book, it is the opinion of the reader that the portrayal of the brilliance and personality of John Forbes Nash, Jr. is to a certain extent fiction mixed with a smattering of fact.
The reason behind this assertion is connected to the very nature of the biography which is “unauthorized” in that the events, depictions and the very personality of Nash within the book may not be an accurate representation of him as a person. However, despite such drawbacks, the book itself is rich and vibrant containing poignant moments of rich character development, illness, recovery and finally vindication as evidenced by Nash winning the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Purpose
When reading through the book, it becomes evident that the purpose behind its inception was to show people that adversity, illness, strife and even social ostracization are aspects that can be overcome in order to achieve a certain degree of success.
Nasar depicted the life of Nash as one that was a series of tragedies, yet she also showed how through his own personal determination to succeed he was able to achieve a degree of vindication through his success in the field of academics. It is based on this that the book itself can be considered a message of hope for anyone facing the struggles that life throws at the them and how these can be overcome with the desire to make something of yourself.
About the Actor
Reading through book, one might consider Nash to be a “broken” man due to the sheer amount of problems he experienced in his life. Yet, despite such a series of unfortunate events, the depiction of Nash’s character is one that should not be forgotten. It showed the willingness to succeed, to overcome and to achieve his dream. In essence, the life of Nash as it was depicted can be correlated with the essence of the human spirit, namely possessing the will and drive to survive and to succeed no mater what.
Book Summary
The book “A Beautiful Mind” is a semi- fictional biographical account of the life of noted mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. and his struggle with schizophrenia (Nasar, 1998). It delves not only into various pivotal events in his life but also helps to explain his personality, the motivation behind his work and ultimately his genius as evidenced by Nash winning the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994.
To read the book is to examine the life of a man who has dealt not only with adversity in the form of his anti-social eccentric personality but also the growing deterioration of his mental capacity as a direct result of schizophrenia.
Conclusion
Overall, it can be stated that while the book written by Nasar was an unauthorized account of the life of Nash, it was still poignant, well written and revealed an aspect of the human spirit connected to never giving up in the face of adversity.
Reference List
Nasar, S. (1998). A beautiful mind: A biography of John Forbes Nash, 1994. New York: Simon & Schuster.